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        Not Pete Atkin >> Off-topic >> Nicki Leighton Thomas - gigs & new Album with Simon Wallace
        
(Message started by: Seán Kelly on Today at 16:45)

Title: Nicki Leighton Thomas - gigs & new Album with Simon Wallace
Post by Seán Kelly on Today at 16:45

Last night [12th Jan 2023] I managed to catch Nicki Leighton Thomas at the Crazy Coqs bar - part of the Zedel Brasserie near Piccadilly Circus in London, UK.

Nicki played a great set of songs predominantly drawn from her two albums of Fran Landesman / Simon Wallace compositions, the latest of which is freshly released.

For any James / Atkin fans who haven't heard Fran and Simon's songs you should really put that right - they are fabulous (and not just imho actually!). They have been recorded by many jazz singers including Sarah Moule and Ian Shaw but Nicki L-T was one of the first to record many of them at Simon and Fran's request - and in fact Fran wrote several songs about Nicki.

The show was a great success - this was in fact a return visit after the new album launch before Christmas [which I missed]. Simon was fab on piano, Alex Dankworth played some terrific double bass and Nicki LT was set free to fly with the songs, which she did, her love for them - and for Fran, who sadly died in 2011 - was very evident.

Nicki interspersed the songs with some brief memories of her friendship and the whole event flew by in the intimate environment of Crazy Coqs. I was very glad indeed to catch it.

Here's a link to the UK Guardian review of Nicki's album:

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2022/oct/08/nicki-leighton-thomas-one-good-scandal-review-more-fran-landesman-gems

Check It Out. Tell them Sean sent you! ;)

Title: Re: Nicki Leighton Thomas - gigs & new Album with Simon Walla
Post by S J Birkill on Today at 21:35

Thank you for this, Seán -- you caught a good one there. Do you have a photo to share?

For any who may have missed it at the time, here's a link to our wobbly video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3dEAWKqQhJ8) of Nicki with Simon Wallace, Sarah Moule and Pete Atkin performing the Landesman/Wallace song Living in Overdrive at the Dulwich Festival in May 2009.

https://www.peteatkin.com/images/overdrive850x474.jpg (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3dEAWKqQhJ8)

Steve

Title: Re: Nicki Leighton Thomas - gigs & new Album with Simon Walla
Post by Seán Kelly on 14.01.23 at 18:14

Thanks for that Steve - and yes I just managed to grab a couple of photos - how did you guess ;)

Here's more than you asked for :)

https://photos.smugmug.com/A/Pete-Atkin/i-rfv9TzZ/0/dc0cce1c/L/IMG_6044LR_800x533-L.jpg

https://photos.smugmug.com/A/Pete-Atkin/i-BkCsxfP/0/241e64d9/L/IMG_6053LR_800x533-L.jpg

https://photos.smugmug.com/A/Pete-Atkin/i-LQKLpsq/0/fc4d82b9/L/IMG_6054LR_800x533-L.jpg

https://photos.smugmug.com/A/Pete-Atkin/i-ZCqrMcQ/0/733f79e8/L/IMG_6059LR_800x533-L.jpg

https://photos.smugmug.com/A/Pete-Atkin/i-cg5jxxJ/0/fdee1f6f/L/IMG_6078LR_800x533-L.jpg